


the ride home

by ryukogo (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Category: Kindergarten (Video Games 2017 2019)
Genre: College AU, F/M, Fluff, Future AU, Pining, it's penny's turn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 13:54:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20489948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/ryukogo
Summary: “This is dangerous, you know,” She warned him weakly, still feeling strangely warm inside. Why? Why? He always does this, so why is it affecting you now? Why now?Ted let out a soft chuckle - one that made a portion of her internal structure freeze up slightly and become even warmer. Why? “I’m not Felix, but I know how to get you home safely, Pen. Don’t worry. I’ve got this, I promise.”Oh, woe was her.





	the ride home

They were going home again together.

It was a normal occurrence, really - whenever Monty couldn’t drive her home due to obligations with his school organization, she liked to hitch a ride home with the Huxley twins in their car, usually with Felix at the wheel. They could’ve had the personal driver drive them home, yes, but most of the time  _ Cindy  _ was also hitching a ride home with the Huxley twins and honestly? Everyone and their mother knew Felix was like a peacock prancing around showing off his feathers whenever Cindy was involved.

Privately, she thought that it was incredibly silly that he didn’t just spit it out already and ask her out directly - and that Cindy herself was just patiently waiting for him to spit it out himself. It was a strange song and dance that she didn’t understand herself, but she didn’t have too much time to dwell on that today. They were probably already outside waiting for her.

Tucking her notebook into her bag, Penny threaded her arms through the drawstrings of her little blue bag and tugged before making her way out of the classroom and out of the school, down the front steps to where Ted was waiting patiently. With dusk falling softly over the school and the dark clouds on the horizon promising a brief rain, Penny made a little hop and skip as she landed on the final step, attracting his attention and making him smile brightly like the sun that came after a rainstorm.

Well. He  _ was  _ the sunshine twin between him and Felix.

“Felix can’t join us today,” Ted explained apologetically upon seeing her glance around for his missing brother. “Apparently he’s got things to do with his own org, so it’s just you and me tonight. That okay?”

Penny nodded, smiling pleasantly up at him. Of course it was alright - why wouldn’t it be? They’d always been inseparable. “I don’t mind at all. It’d be nice to have the car all to ourselves this time.”

“Without Fe or Cin nearby just flirting endlessly with each other? Definitely,” Ted noted, jokingly relieved, making her giggle into her palm as he led the way to where the car was parked. Without Felix and Cindy there, the front seats were wide open for Penny and Ted to take, Penny sitting shotgun as Ted took the wheel.

Within minutes, they were off again.

It was a normal car ride home at first, the two of them bantering and laughing about the day’s events as the moon slowly rose higher into the sky, taking its place among the stars. The traffic was fairly heavy, so there were periods of time where Ted put the car on brake just waiting for the cars to move. And normally that wasn’t an issue - Felix did it too, and it was usually during this time that the four of them (whenever Cindy was also hitching a ride) engaged in deeper conversation about the day’s events.

Today was different.

Ted was, at heart, an affectionate, touchy person. Both the Huxley twins were. Penny didn’t mind in the very slightest - it was nice to know that he was comfortable enough around her to do things like drape his arms over her shoulders, his chin resting on top of her head whenever they were talking with other people like it was nothing special. She didn’t mind it whenever he stood behind her, slouching just enough that his chin connected with her shoulder as she held a conversation with someone else, his arms wrapped around her - nor did she mind whenever he just randomly grabbed her hand and just held it close to his cheek, sighing because her cold hands offset his consistent warmth.

It was normal.

So why did  _ now  _ feel different?

The traffic had made them stop again, and the moment Ted put the car on brake, he leaned over and rested his head on Penny’s shoulder - as he usually did whenever they were seated in the backseat and Felix was the one driving. It was innocent, harmless, his usual affection. But for some reason, it felt different this time to her - she didn’t understand  _ why _ , but it was.

His hand moved over to drape itself across her lap - the signal for her to take hold of it, which she did. As her tiny hand took its place, interlocking fingers with his much bigger one, she marveled at the way their hands together felt so natural - and then promptly wondered  _ why  _ this was so fascinating to her, when she’d already known this from the beginning.  _ Our hands have always fit together, haven’t they? _

Odd that this seemed like such an important new discovery to her just now.

It was a few minutes, maybe more than fifteen - would the traffic ever let up? - , when Penny began to tap out a little melody on his fingertips with her free hand, humming softly to herself as she did so. One, two, three, one, two, three - it was oddly soothing as she played with his fingers like a harp player strummed their strings, at ease with his head on her shoulder, her head resting on top of his.

He tilted his head slightly, and suddenly Penny found that she couldn’t breathe, for he’d decided to nose at her neck and rub his cheek against her collarbone almost reverently, as though he was praising a god. He did this sometimes too, whenever he was feeling particularly touchstarved - and she understood, she really did. She treated it as normal.

So why did this one time, this one instance where seatbelts and a multitude of other car things that normally didn’t matter at all to her separated them… why did this one time make her insides feel all sorts of warm?

He didn’t talk much whenever he was hungry for affection, that much Penny knew - but he didn’t need to speak, when most of his actions reflected everything he wanted that words couldn’t possibly capture properly. Penny found her cheeks warming as Ted nosed his way up the curve of her jaw and into her hair, sighing softly, and then yet again he dropped back to her neck, where-

“ _ Theo! _ ” She finally squeaked, almost tender silence broken immediately by the sound of her giggling as Ted playfully nibbled at the curve where her neck met her shoulder with his lips. “That tickles!”

“What, this?” He nosed at it again, making her giggle uncontrollably as her insides began to churn a little faster, growing a little hotter than usual. What in the name of goodness gracious was happening? “I didn’t know you were ticklish.”

Penny’s squeals and giggles fell from her lips as she tried to nudge him away with her cheek. “Stoooop, now you know my weakness-!”

“I’m gonna get yooou~” Ted seemed to be all over the left side of her neck and jaw at once, nosing a path that left a lingering warmth on her skin that she was absolutely certain didn’t  _ usually  _ linger like that. Then again, he never usually went for her neck like this in the first place. He usually just nosed at her cheek, too modest to actually kiss it until she explicitly said it was fine because ‘they were friends, friends can kiss each other’s cheeks if they want to’.

Penny was at least 50% certain she was going to combust internally.

The car in front of them started moving again, and with a soft grumble that seemed more fitting of his brother, Ted’s focus returned to look back at the road, but his head remained on her shoulder and his other hand remained entwined with hers, the other one still on the wheel.

“This is dangerous, you know,” She warned him weakly, still feeling strangely warm inside.  _ Why? Why? He always does this, so why is it affecting you now? Why now? _

Ted let out a soft chuckle - one that made a portion of her internal structure freeze up slightly and become even warmer.  _ Why?  _ “I’m not Felix, but I know how to get you home safely, Pen. Don’t worry. I’ve got this, I promise.”

Oh, woe was her.

The traffic eventually thinned, leading to him leaning away from her shoulder to straighten back out again, and much to her embarrassment Penny caught herself chasing after his head with her own, longing to rest her head on his in that quiet moment of comfort yet again. His hand still hadn’t let go of hers still as he drove with only one hand, squeezing her hand reassuringly every now and then as he drove down familiar streets.

When the time came for Penny to finally get dropped off, she turned to Ted to bid him goodbye when she felt his lips brush against her cheek in the most chaste of kisses - yet this one felt unmistakably  _ warm _ , lighting a candle in her cheeks and warming her already rosy cheeks into a much rosier color.

“Told you I’d get you home safe,” He murmured softly, and in the bright light of the streetlamp sitting right outside the Montgomery household, his eyes seemed to shine like the prettiest stars.

Her insides were on  _ fire _ .

Clumsily she fumbled for the seatbelt buckles, to no avail, but upon seeing her distress Ted unbuckled it for her before finally, finally, letting go of the hand he’d been holding, allowing Penny to exit the car and turn to face him, eyes wide, cheeks red, and insides aflame.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” He almost made it seem like a question. Of course he’d see her tomorrow. They were classmates. Best friends.

Best friends that kissed each other’s cheeks and nosed at their necks like it wasn’t such a tender act reserved only for lovers.

She nodded wordlessly, and with a relieved, gentle smile, Ted turned to face the road again, and drove off, leaving Penny standing under the light of the street lamp, her shadow long on the asphalt, her hands tightly gripping her bag’s drawstrings and her internal systems finally giving way.

Monty found her about thirty minutes later collapsed on the front lawn, hands covering her red face and everything inside her shrieking like a boiling kettle.


End file.
